"It looks like guacamole!"

During and after making our leaf rainbow, we had questions.  Each day we would discuss our questions as a group to figure out what we might have already known about them.  I mentioned what I knew, but we would often go to the internet to help understand as much as I/we could.

Why do leaves turn pink?

How do leaves change color?

How do they change shapes?

What do they do when they’re grown up?

What are those black spots on them?

Where does the water go in the leaf?"

In discussing the anatomy of a leaf, we understood what the vein, stem, and points were in the leaf, but had a harder time with the idea of the blade of the leaf.  The blade is the flat "skin" of the leaf.  We then saw leaves with missing blades and used that example for our understanding.

This is an example of a leaf with the blade starting to disappear and veins holding it together.

Another question we wanted to know about was where the water went when it came through the stems.  I explained how the water was distributed and then we did an experimentation of our own.  Soft, fresh leaves were floppy and moist.  Moist leaves had water in them.  We gathered some of these leaves and tried to wring them out.  That did not work, so we smashed them.

"It looks like guacamole!"

It is very hard to "see" the water in the leaves, but it is a lot easier to see it on white paper.  What was very exciting was the milkweed leaves we found. As soon as we pulled them off the plant it started to leak.  We broke the leaf down to the vein and saw the liquid distributed all the way through!

This is a leaf with a disease.  We cannot catch this disease.  This disease does not kill the tree, but other diseases might be able to.  

By analyzing the different types of leaves, we come to an understanding of how plants work.  Veins are an important piece of a leaf.  It brings water to the blades.  The blades change color because the tree is preparing for winter.  The packages of color called chlorophyll break down because tree needs to focus on protecting itself.  Leaves will come again when the sun is stronger and the weather is not so cold.

As always, thanks for reading!